Experiments to demonstrate that nuclear energy could be used directly to pump a laser were performed as indicated in the article reported by D. A. McArthur and P. B. Tollefsrud, Appl Phy Lett, Volume 26, No. 4, Feb. 15, 1975, page 187. Since that time several nuclear pumped lasers have been demonstrated as evidenced in the article by R. J. DeYoung, N. W. Jalufka and F. Hohl, Appl Phys. Lett, Volume 30, No. 1, Jan. 1, 1977, page 19. The idea which is basic to nuclear pumped lasers is the absorption of a neutron by a fissionable nucleus with subsequent fissioning. A typical process is EQU .sup.23 5.sub.92 U+.sup.1.sub.0 n.fwdarw..sup.23 6.sub.92 U
The .sup.23 6.sub.92 U atom is unstable and splits releasing energy. A typical equation is EQU .sup.23 6.sub.92 U.fwdarw..sup.13 9.sub.56 Ba+.sup.94.sub.36 Kr+3.sub.0.sup.1 n+Energy.
On the average about 180 MeV of energy is released per fission with about 170 MeV appearing in the form of kinetic energy of the fission fragments. The balance of the energy appears as gamma ray energy and kinetic energy of the neutrons that are emitted. A second nuclear reaction that is important is the fissioning of .sup.3.sub.2 He+.sup.1.sub.0 n.fwdarw..sup.1.sub.1 H+.sup.3.sub.1 H+Energy. The central problem of nuclear pumped lasers has been to successfully convert the nuclear energy into laser photon energy.
Therefore, it is a principle object of this invention to provide a nuclear pumped laser which utilizes nuclear energy to act on a medium to produce laser photon energy that is in turn utilized to pump a laser gas medium to produce a laser output.
Another object of this invention is to use a nuclear energy source which is a compacted energy source.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an efficient system which converts nuclear energy to laser energy directly and thereby by-passing the conventional cycle of heat.fwdarw.mechanical energy.fwdarw.electrical energy.fwdarw.laser energy.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a system which overcomes problems that are encountered in similar systems when using thin foils such as in e-beam systems.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a laser which has the capability of producing wavelengths in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths that are difficult to achieve using conventional pumping techniques.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide a laser system which can be used to produce excimer lasers.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a laser system which produces a better beam quality of excimer lasers as the density of the pump medium is much less than conventional e-beam excimer lasers.
Still another object of this invention is to provide photon pumping of the laser medium which deposites less heat in the laser gases to thereby reduce gas flow requirements.
Further objects and and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in this art.